Boyfriend's Clothes
by NovaSkye
Summary: [Ch. 9] They would do whatever it took to destroy each other. To take each other's pride. To make it hurt. To make the other experience the humiliation of falling for the nose flick. One-shot collection. NaLu fluff.
1. Boyfriend's Clothes

**Boyfriend's Clothes**

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 _Summary: Natsu comes home from a mission and finds that Lucy has broken into his house...and is wearing his clothes?_

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Lucy picked up a couple habits from Natsu in the three years they had known each other. Some habits were good, others were... Look, breaking into other people's homes wasn't that bad.

As she climbed through Natsu's window, she told herself she only wanted to tidy up his place so he and Happy could return to a clean home. Of course, the real reason was simply because she missed him. Two weeks apart was way too long, especially for a new couple! Lucy wanted to strangle him for leaving her behind again, but at least there was a reason this time as she was sick when the two left. They had only become exclusive a short three months ago, much to the guild's delight (or spite depending on the wager), but not that much changed between them. After all, Natsu was _still_ Natsu.

She was surprised to find his door was actually locked this time. "He should have given me a key or something..." Lucy shut the small window behind her and turned around to see a horrific sight. Food, dishes, clothes, weights, toys, gears, and tools were scattered across the floor, and Lucy was beginning to think coming over was a bad idea. There was a horrible smell in the air too. She kic ked over a large black lump on the floor and was relieved to see it was only a small pillow under a shirt, not a dead animal. Lucy pulled off her scarf and gloves, and set them by the window so they wouldn't get lost in the chaos. It was a little cold inside, but it was much warmer than the winter air from her long walk.

"Well this place isn't going to clean itself." Lucy hit small kitchen area first and found the source of the stench coming from the sink. She found a pile of fish scraps Happy had collected and apparently forgotten to throw away before the two left. They had partially decayed and liquefied, and Lucy almost threw up trying to clean it all. That was the worst though, after that she slowly picked up all the trash and cleaned the dishes. It took a gruesome four hours of work to pick up, scrub, sweep, and mop the entire front area of the house. She had an issue with the large bar bell place inconveniently near the front of the door. She tried to move it, but she could barely even roll it. She huffed when she gave up on moving it, and questioned in amazement, "How can Natsu lift this?" It must have weighed five hundred pounds.

She stepped over the insanely heavy weight and grabbed the "Welcome" fish mat she had brought outside to dust. She dropped it back on the floor and walked over to the couches that had previously been shoved apart. She sat down and looked at her handiwork. True, she didn't know what to do with half of the random things scattered around the room, but she thought she did a pretty good job. She took a short break as she looked at the massive number of requests pasted on the walls. She smiled at his note still stuck on the wall that said, "The quest I performed with Lucy for the first time!" Soon enough she picked herself up and gathered his laundry into a large bag she found lying around. She noticed the door at the end of the room and thought she should check before she went to the laundromat.

The door opened to reveal a short hallway, the bathroom was off to the left, and there were two closed doors at the opposite end of the hall. She went into the bathroom which was surprisingly clean. There were a couple garments lying around, but the floors and counter were relatively tidy. To be thorough, she mopped the bathroom, wiped down the surfaces, and closed the door behind her on the way out. As she shut the door she stared at the other ones in the hall. Lucy couldn't recall ever going in the very last one. The first room had more souvenirs from the missions Natsu and Happy had been on, but she didn't know about the other. She couldn't remember Natsu saying anything either. She went to open the door but it was locked.

The only thing that meant was that now she _had_ to see what was behind the door. She remembered seeing an odd looking key in a flower pot when she was cleaning, so she rushed off to grab it. She hesitated as she put the key up to the lock. This was a major breach of privacy, but it was Natsu, what could he possibly have to hide right? Besides he frequently read her diary.

There was a large pile of money stashed in a corner, but she didn't really care when she saw the main contents of the room. She felt a tear slip down her cheek as she stared into the room. "Natsu..." She stepped back out of the room and locked the door behind her.

"It's laundry time!" She wiped her few tears away and grabbed the bag she collected from before. She returned in a couple hours with clean laundry and groceries, as she knew they would be coming back in the next two days.

She sat on the couch and opened up the laundry bag to start folding the items, but looking at the clothes gave her an idea. Lucy put on a pair of his clothes and immediately felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. "Lucy I'm hungry!" Lucy used a deep voice to give her best impersonation of Natsu and started throwing stuff around the newly cleaned room like he always did to her room. "Auaaghh... I hate...trains...Couldn't we have walked four days instead...Lucccyyyy~ " Lucy wrapped her own scarf around her neck and continued saying things Natsu always seemed to be saying, "You take forever to get ready." "Whoops looks like I'm out of money." "Moete kitazo!"

"Natsu! How many times have I told you not to break into my house!" A high pitched voice that sounded as ridiculous as Lucy's deep voice called out and her heart jumped. Lucy turned around frantically to see Natsu, with a blue Exceed on his head, standing in the door way with the biggest smirk she had ever seen.

Were they going to do this? Oh yes they were.

"But there's no food at my place!" Lucy whined and casually walked back over to the couch in the living area. She ungracefully threw herself on the couch.

"Then go buy some! It's not my fault you guys aren't able to take care of yourselves. Go home." Natsu put his fists on his hips, shifted his weight to one leg, and frowned menacingly.

"But Luuuuuuuucy~" Lucy groaned obnoxiously and kicked her feet up on a small table nearby.

"No buts! I want to take a relaxing bath and I don't need you two wrecking my apartment." Natsu huffed angrily and pointed at the door. "Don't make me throw you out, because I can and I will."

"Fine," she made an expression that was part sulky and part fearful, "but I'm taking this with me!" Lucy hopped off the couch and started towards the open window, flailing what seemed to be a job request in her hand.

"KYNAAAAGH!" Natsu shrieked and Lucy nearly broke character from laughing at the horrific sound Natsu had just made. "IS THAT MY MANUSCRIPT?! Have you been reading it?! I'm going to murder you!" Natsu jumped over to the window in a flash and slammed it shut, making Lucy look around for the best way to escape.

"It was just sitting there! Why else would it be out in the open if you didn't want someone to read it?"

"How can you be so stupid?!" Natsu ruffled his hair in frustration, and Lucy took that moment to sprint away from him.

"See you at the guild tomorrow! Come on Happy!" Lucy ran for the door and a confused Happy looked at Lucy like she was insane. He hopped off Natsu's head and sat on the couch, dumbfounded by the two who seemed to have switched their identities. He didn't get them sometimes, couples were weird.

"Oh no you don't!" Natsu followed right behind her and wrapped his arms around her stomach, trapping her in his arms. "How much did you read?!"

Lucy's cheeks were now flushed from the sudden proximity. "Oh... only like the first couple words-"

"Natsu," He wrapped his arms tighter around Lucy and nuzzled his face into her hair. "I can tell when you are lying."

Lucy took a moment enjoying his tight embrace before responding. "Luce, I don't understand why you are so embarrassed, it's really good. Although I guess it could be embarrassing that you based your main character after me."

"You are _nothing_ like my character! He's romantic, princely, gorgeous, respectful, and perfect, and you are a stalker slash freeloader who only bathes three times a week."

He sounded almost a little too much like her, it was uncanny. She turned around in his arms to face him and looked up into his mirthful eyes. "An extremely _hot_ stalker slash freeloader."

"Ya damn right." Natsu smiled and rested his forehead against hers.

"I missed you guys." Lucy smiled back still high in energy from their little game.

Now that the weirdness had passed Happy flew over and hugged Lucy's head. "We missed you too! Natsu was moody the entire trip."

"I was not." Natsu protested weakly.

"Happy, I went to the store and bought you a bunch of fis-" Lucy didn't get to finish her sentence before the Exceed had darted for the kitchen. She giggled, "I cleaned a bit too, but the place got so messy again you almost can't tell."

"It looks like you did laundry."

"How did you know?"

Lucy followed his heated gaze from the bag of laundry to her chest. She almost forgot she was still wearing his black vest and pants. Instead of leaving it open though she had tied it so the vest sat right above her belly button.

"You should wear my clothes more often," he whispered in her ear. "Feel free to leave it untied though."

By now she was completely red and she was sure he could hear her heart beating erratically.

"Hey Natsu?" Happy interrupted the moment as he poked his head out from the kitchen while already snacking on a fish.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?"

Lucy and Natsu responded simultaneously. Happy and Natsu stared with big eyes at Lucy who sounded eerily similar to Natsu. Though still embarrassed about what Natsu just said she stuck her tongue out at them playfully. She was glad that her practicing had paid off.

* * *

A/n: I just found a 20k document on my computer of NaLu short stories I wrote last year, so this fan fiction might become a one-shot compilation. I haven't re-read it all yet, but I intend to post more if it isn't terrible. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Dreams Aflame

**Dreams Aflame**

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 _Summary: Natsu and Happy accidentally set Lucy's manuscript on fire._

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"My manuscript! How could you?!" Tears began falling down her face as she sat pathetically on the floor sifting through the ashes of her novel.

"This was my only copy," she murmured as a handful of charred pages and dust slipped through her fingers. A year's worth of hard work had been reduced to ash.

"I'm sorry Lucy it was an accident I swear." Natsu felt his heart clench at the sight of her crying. Sure, he was an idiot, but even he should have known how precious her novel was to her. She was most definitely, absolutely going to kill him. He felt sick thinking about the pain that was to come.

"Really Lucy!" Happy pleaded, "We were just playing and..." Happy started to tear up unable to deal with Lucy crying.

"Just go." Lucy swept up the ashes into a neat pile with her hands, taking her time to say goodbye, then stood to get the broom from the kitchen.

Natsu kept his distance, but followed her, "Please, you have to know I would never do something like this on purpose."

She ignored him, taking care in sweeping up the remains of what felt like her life. Natsu and Happy shared a sad look not knowing what to do. Natsu felt compelled to reach out and touch her shoulder, and did so despite Happy frantically shaking his head and crossing his arms in front of his body to form an "X". Just as Natsu's hand was about to land on her shoulder, she dropped the broom handle and ash flew everywhere.

Natsu and Happy squeaked.

Lucy snapped her head around to look Natsu dead in the eye. She noticed him flinch like he expected her to take a swing at him. She didn't. "I'm asking you to leave before I say something that we won't recover from." Natsu looked confused by the statement, and almost asked what she meant by that, but Happy pulled him by his hair towards the door. "We're sorry Lucy." The cat sniffled and lead Natsu out of the apartment.

The door softly clicked shut and Lucy ran to her bed. She clutched her pillow to her chest and stopped holding her emotions back. She had been slaving over her novel for an entire year. It was almost complete, almost perfect, but in the time she opened her door and saw Natsu playing with fire, her stack of loose leaf papers lit up in an instant. The two had grabbed at it and tried to put it out, but it crumbled through their hands and floated to the floor still glowing red. Lucy had run towards them and shoved them so hard they smashed into a wall at the end of the room. She dove to the ground looking for any piece of paper she could salvage, but the flames were too hot and incinerated the entire stack in seconds. Lucy heard their apologies, but she didn't pay attention. All she could think about was having to start over.

Lucy gave herself the next two hours to feel sorry for herself then she picked her head off her pillow to look out the window. She peaked her head out to look at the street and confirmed her suspicions when she spotted Natsu sitting on the apartment steps with his head in his hands. Happy was pacing back and forth in front of him with a downtrodden look.

At that time she was so close to telling Natsu to leave her alone for good, that she hated how he didn't care about what she held dear, that he managed to make her life absolutely miserable on a daily basis, that she hated him, but she found it within her to hold her tongue. In the torrent of emotions she was feeling at the time all those statements seemed justified, but now she knew that none of them were true. He made her boring life full of excitement and he cared about her more than anyone, other than her mother, ever had. Lucy frowned when she remembered the genuine heartbroken expression on his face as he tried to apologize. It really wasn't all his fault. After all, she could have hidden her manuscript better. Lucy began to make her way out of her apartment. She could start over. She was a much better writer now than when she started the novel all that time ago.

She needed to apologize for kicking them out and getting so angry. Long ago she had signed up for them barging into her life and destroying her personal property. The two were simply fulfilling their job description. She imagined Natsu beating himself up to an extreme like always, and Happy still crying even though it wasn't his fault. Thinking about those two fools made her quicken her pace down stairs.

"You two going to sulk there all night?"

"Lucy!" They said simultaneously and Natsu hopped off the steps. They got on their knees and bowed their heads to the ground.

"We're sorry. Please forgive us!" they shouted in unison.

"Beat up Natsu as much as you want until you feel better," Happy added quickly.

Natsu growled and turned his head, still pressed to the ground, to face the cat, "That's not what we agreed to say!" He said in a hushed tone though Lucy could hear him anyway.

"But everyone always says they feel better after they've punched you in the face."

"Who the hell said that? It was that stripper wasn't it!"

"Well yeah Gray, but others said it too, let's see Erza, Loki, Gajeel, Elfman..."

"Damn, I get it already!" Natsu huffed and they looked back towards the ground. They resumed their silence, awaiting punishment.

Lucy smiled at the little argument and sat on her knees in front of them. She gently rested one hand on Natsu's shoulder and the other atop Happy's head.

"Accidents happen. I'm sorry for getting so emotional. It was a lot to take in, but can just start something new. Don't worry!" She knew she had done the right thing when she watched the pure relief wash over their guilt ridden faces.

"Now get off the ground before someone see you, this is embarrassing." Lucy tried to stand up, but was tackled to the ground in a fierce hug. "Thank you! It won't happen again, we promise."

Lucy eventually detangled herself from a pair of strong arms and a pair of blue paws. "Alright already! Get off." She picked herself up and Happy flew into her arms. "Lucy, can I be your main character in the story this time?"

"If anyone should be the main character it should be me!" Natsu jumped off the ground and followed Lucy back into the apartment building.

"Sorry you two, I've got a _much_ cooler character already."

"Just what are you tryin' to say Lucy?" Lucy looked back to see Natsu with a fierce glare and fists ablaze.

"Yeah!" Happy chimed in.

"That you're not cool," Lucy stuck out her tongue.

Natsu's brilliant flames went out instantly and he looked as if he had turned to stone. Happy started sobbing and drawing circles on the floor, "You're so mean!"

Lucy shook her head. She shouldn't write another story with them as main characters, or should she?

"Move guys, you're blocking the hallway for other people."

Natsu and Happy followed her without another word, but as they neared her apartment door Lucy heard them start to mumble. "How can she think I'm not cool? She has no idea what she's talking about," Natsu said entirely miffed. "Forget about that Natsu, doooo iiiiiit," she heard Happy whisper excitedly.

"Hey, Luce!" Lucy turned around and saw Natsu hold up a thick stack of pages with a goofy grin.

"Got'cha," they said in unison for the last time.

Time would have it, in fact, that the two would never say anything again, much less say something in unison.


	3. Time for a Piggyback Ride - NO WAY!

**Time for a Piggyback Ride ~ NO WAY!**

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 _Summary: Her feet hurt. Their destination is still miles away. Is that enough to make Lucy accept Natsu's offer of a piggyback ride or will her pride get in the way?  
_

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Lucy looked into the distance to see the sun begin to fall off of the horizon, but couldn't appreciate how beautiful it was because she was convinced that her legs would collapse at any moment. Were her feet on fire? They very well could have been, but she hadn't the energy to look down.

Seven hours into their trip back from a village, miles away from any major town, they were only two thirds done with the journey. After a gang fight and a long stay to help the villagers get back on their feet Lucy, Natsu, and Happy headed to the nearest town with a train station completely exhausted. They had only made a fraction of the money offered in the request, but the three felt good that they could help restore the houses and fields, especially since they were the ones who destroyed them.

"We've been walking for hours can't we take a break?"

Natsu casually looked back at Lucy who was lagging four meters behind him. He wanted to tell her to stop complaining until he saw the miserable expression on her face, "We need to get to town before night fall. Just hang in there, we've almost made it." Natsu tried to encourage her, but she only frowned. ' _Curse him_.' Lucy kicked a rock in front of her, he didn't look tired at all.

"Come on Lucy! You can do it!" Happy shouted from on top of Natsu's head trying to lift her spirits, but it only sounded patronizing to her.

"Say's the cat who has had a ride the entire time." She grumbled and continued to drag her feet onward as she let her head fall to face the ground. ' _Oh, not on fire. That's good._ ' She noticed Natsu's sandals come into view and she looked up in surprise to see him standing in front with his backpack in one hand and a grin. "If you wanted a ride you should have just said so."

Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes, "As if."

"Come on it'll take half the time if you ride on my back. Hop on." He turned around and squatted to the ground so she could get on. Lucy considered it briefly, but pride got in the way.

"I'm not a child. You're not going to give me a piggyback ride."

She stomped past him and both Natsu and Happy laughed at her stubbornness. Clearly she was delusional if she thought she wasn't acting like a child. They kept that comment to themselves. Natsu caught up to her in two strides and swooped her legs out from under her to lift her to his chest bridal style. "I know you want to be carried, don't pretend."

She squeaked and tried to break out of his arms, which pretty much felt like trying to push her way through a rock wall. "Natsu put me down! I said I don't want to be carried!"

"See Lucy, we are already moving faster." Happy grinned down at her as he floated beside Natsu. Lucy's eyes travel towards Natsu nervously. Happy put his paws up to his mouth excitedly. Her eyes snapped away when Happy flew down beside her and whispered in her ear. "You liiiiiiikeee him~" Lucy's already pink cheeks flared red and she turned into Natsu's chest to hide her face. "Shut it Happy!"

"Come on Luce. It's impressive that you've made it so long especially after all the work we did. Any normal person couldn't have made it this long, just let me carry you for a bit."

"Fine...Thanks." She mumbled still facing his vest and felt him chuckle quietly in response. After a couple of minutes she nodded off.

When he heard her breathing slow Natsu looked down knowing he wouldn't get beaten up by "looking down" on her, "making fun" of her, or whatever excuse she could come up with to hit him.

Natsu felt immensely guilt he brought Lucy along on a job request he picked so impulsively. Nothing about the job particularly bothered him, but it was a different story for Lucy. It was a long journey through an area with climate very different from home, where it would get extremely cold as soon as the sun set. On top of that, he destroyed things like he normally did, which extended their stay. They worked for hours in the sun rebuilding houses, restoring fields for farming, and had to sleep outside with minimal shelter. "A week in hell", Lucy had called it on one particularly cold night. She also made sure to bring up that they wouldn't have had to stay so long if Natsu had just controlled himself.

As Natsu walked over the top of a hill he saw the village far off in the distance. He was really hoping he could get her to town tonight so she could sleep inside. "Sorry I pushed you so hard." Natsu said absentmindedly. The vibration in his chest caused Lucy to open her eyes lazily. Natsu snapped his head up fearful that she would yell at him for staring at her.

"What?" Lucy looked at Natsu, still not completely awake. This had been the most comfortable sleeping position she'd been in all week.

"Nothing," Natsu said sheepishly.

"Okay," she said too tired to inquire about his suspicious tone.

"How long was I sleeping?"

"About twenty minutes, not too sure though."

Lucy closed her eyes appreciating the comfort of Natsu's arms compared to the last week of tossing and turning over rocks that poked her in the back. It also made her regret not taking him up on his offer to sleep right next to him to stay warm. She sighed, hopefully they wouldn't make it to the town tonight. It would be nice to sleep next to her own furnace. Lucy's eyes snapped open, mortified that she just thought that.

"Umm, can you let me down?"

"Is everything alright?" he asked as he loosened his arms.

"Yeah, I just want to stretch a little bit." She shifted her weight so she slipped from his arms, and felt a chill as soon as she did. Happy seemed a little irritated to be woken up.

Lucy stretched her arms, back, and reached down to touch her toes.

"Man, my arms are stiff too." Natsu swung his arms around to get better circulation. "I forgot how heavy you were!"

Lucy snapped her head toward him and glared. "What did you say?!"

Natsu was saved by Happy shouting, "Guy's look!" Happy pointed over to a steep hill covered in lush grass leading down to a stream. "Fish!" He flew down to the stream and Natsu sighed, "Well, we weren't going to make it anyway." Natsu looked off to see the town on the horizon and dropped his backpack to the ground.

Lucy looked down the hill and then back to Natsu, admiring how his hair blended right into the colors of the sunset. Suddenly a childish urge overcame her. She backed away from him and took a deep breath.

Natsu looked at her and cocked his head to the side in confusion. His eyes widened when she dashed right towards him. "What are you doi-" He couldn't finish his sentence as she tackled him to the ground and sent them rolling down the hill. She started laughing hysterically and gripped her arms tighter around him so they wouldn't break apart. When they reached the bottom of the hill Lucy landed on top of Natsu and both were in a fit of laughter. Despite being safely on the ground he continued to hold her firmly to his chest, "That was really fun!"

"Yeah, but it hurt a lot more than I thought it would!" She rolled off him onto her stomach and he rolled onto his stomach as well. They propped themselves up on their elbows in the soft grass watching Happy hover over the stream, avidly waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Lucy you are so weird." Natsu laughed again. In his mind he could still see that crazy, determined look on her face just before she tackled him.

She wrapped an arm around his, linking them together, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "No weirder than you."

The excitement had now worn off and they were both starting to get tired. After a couple minutes of comfortably lying there watching Happy try to catch fish, the cat came over to Natsu to get dried off. The two quietly watched the sunlight reflect off of the stream while Happy ate his snack excitedly. By the time the light had completely faded away the two had nodded off.

* * *

Lucy woke up to the familiar sound of a train speeding down its tracks. The other sound all too familiar was that of Natsu moaning quietly in a half-awake half-asleep state. She picked her head up off the window and sat up carefully so as not to wake up Natsu, who had his head resting on her lap. She tentatively ran her fingers through his hair instantly easing his discomforts of motion sickness.

She could remember lying beside the river watching Happy try to catch fish, but nothing afterwards. Natsu must have carried her the rest of the way to the town. Looks like she got a piggyback ride after all. She frowned and gently stroked his face. She felt guilty for making him carry her like that. As the sun began to rise and filter through the window onto her shoulder memories of last night started to come back to her. She vaguely remembered waking up with her head on Natsu's chest feeling too warm. One of the sleeping bags had been thrown over them and he had an arm resting loosely over her waist. It was slow to come to her, but she eventually remembered a short exchange last night.

" _Natsu._ " Lucy remembered whispering.

 _"_ _Mmm…" He slightly pulled her closer to him._

 _"_ _You're too hot."_

 _Natsu scooted out from under her enough so that her head fell to rest on his arm decreasing the amount of skin contact. Not a minute later, a chill came over her, so she rolled onto her side and put an arm over his chest to pull her body to his. She thought he had already fallen asleep again, but he too rolled over and firmly pulled her to his chest. Their noses were almost touching they were so close._

"What are you thinking about?" Natsu's voice interrupted her memory and Lucy looked down, surprised to see him staring at her.

The memory had left her feeling relaxed and with a warm sensation spreading through her body. She wished she hadn't snapped out of it. "I was just wondering about how I woke up here. I guess you carried me to town, thank you."

"Okay, good." Natsu sighed in relief.

"Why did you seem worried?"

Natsu laughed nervously, "Well I thought you might be upset about last night."

"Why would I be upset?"

"I don't know. I just woke up to you pulling on my scarf really hard. It seemed like you were trying to strangle me for sleeping with you."

Lucy lightly slapped her forehead in embarrassment, "We did not _sleep_ together."

"We do it all the time, I still don't know why you're weird about it." Natsu said loudly.

"Don't be so loud! How about I strangle you for real." Lucy moved to put her hands on his neck.

"Wait." Natsu said dangerously. The kind of dangerous voice Lucy tended to listen to whenever they were in a bad situation.

"Be careful. Apparently I'm too hot, you might not be able to keep your hands off of me." He grinned, and started laughing when her eyes widened in horror. She shoved him off her lap onto the train floor causing Natsu to instantly got sick and go limp. He struggled to place a weak hand on her knee. "Please, Lucy. I'm sorry."

"I bet you are."

Happy lazily opened one eye when he heard Natsu's body thud to the floor then fell back asleep with quiet, "Aye."


	4. Catching Tears

**Catching Tears**

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 _Summary: Lucy catches her boyfriend cheating on her and an overprotective Natsu takes matters into his own hands._

* * *

Lucy had many wonderful things going for her. She was part of the guild of her dreams, she had friends willing to die for her, and she was drop dead gorgeous. Even with all of that, however, her love life was a complete and utter wreck. She sat in the bathtub replaying the scene in her mind. The sun had just begun to set, and a lovely orange gradient filled the sky. She had been casually window shopping when she spotted her boyfriend, Francis, shamelessly making out in the middle of the street with some brunette. Lucy immediately marched over to him, slapped his face as hard as she could, said they were over, and didn't look back.

With a downtrodden head and feet feeling like fifty-pound weights, she made it back to her apartment with the resolve not to let it affect her. The depressing thought haunted her though— that she would never find love. Every guy was the _exact_ same.

"Oww! Damn it!" Lucy quickly pulled the razor from her shin and frowned at the chunk of skin she accidentally scrapped off. After a moment, blood started oozing out into the bathtub. "Why does this always happen to me?! You are such an unbelievable asshole! Did I ever do anything wrong? No I've been the perfect girlfriend."

She continued ranting as she got out of the bath to dry herself and then slapped on a bandage. Lucy was so caught up in her rant she didn't hear Natsu enter the bathroom until he and Happy shouted gleefully. "We're home Lucy!"

"Ahhh!" she shrieked and promptly kicked him in the stomach sending him flying out from the bathroom. He hit the wall on the opposite end of the room and fell face first onto the floor. "What have I told you about bursting into the bathroom when I'm in here?! I mean really how many times do I have to say it until you listen?! And you can't 'be home' if you don't live here moron!"

"You should lock the window then, how else am I supposed to know if you don't want me to come in?" He mumbled with a face-full of carpet.

Her eye just twitched. Oh the ways she could reply to that, but instead she slammed the door shut and sat on the ground determined not to move until he left. "I'm not in the mood you guys! Go away!"

Natsu sat up and thought quietly for a moment. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered that wall felt warm when he hit it, but he focused on more important issues. He knew he heard it, that quiver in her voice as she told them to go away. It was only there when Lucy was upset.

"Lucy, did something happen?"

"No." She tried so hard to make that sound convincing, but her voice cracked and she internally cursed. "I'm just tired." She tried again and was successful in sounding normal, but it was too late.

Natsu picked himself up and went over to the bathroom door. His deep voice floated through the door in a tone that was sincere, yet verging on dangerous. "Luce you can tell me anything, did that bastard hurt you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Lucy mumbled back. She waited for him to make the next move, and he was only silent for a couple seconds until she felt angry stomps heading away from the door that literally shook the floor she was sitting on. She popped up and threw the door open. "Natsu please don't, it's not worth it!"

" _You_ are worth it. Nobody gets away with hurting you. I'm gonna beat his sorry ass until he is a bloody pulp and then burn him alive!"

She ran up behind him and clutched his shirt, he continued to walk until her meek voice cut through his blind rage. "Please."

He turned around to face her, not having the heart ignore her plea, and felt more anger well within him when he saw her shoulders begin to shake. "Luce…"

She let her forehead fall to his chest with a sob. "I saw him with another girl while I was shopping…I thought…he was all over her…I should have known…he was always acting like this…I just didn't want to admit it. What's wrong with me? Every guy I date does this! Any now I'm crying all over you, this is so pathetic! This is why you shouldn't break in all the time. It's all your fault!" She hit him softly with a closed fist.

Natsu softly put his hands on either side of her face and squished them together so her cheeks became chubby. "It seems like this is even more of a reason to break into your apartment."

"Natsu," Lucy gave a warning growl like she would have if it were any other day of Natsu patronizing her, but there were no feelings of annoyance behind it. Natsu just chuckled, she looked pretty cute this way.

He stopped squishing her face and brushed away her tears. "It is my fault though, I knew he was bad and I should have tried harder to keep him away from you. Even if I ended up getting a beating." His hands ended up on her shoulders, but Lucy was the one to bring herself close to him. "Uh," Natsu became a little flustered at the unexpected hug, but eventually he remembered what he was going to say. "Listen, you aren't pathetic and nothing is wrong with you, well maybe besides how you constantly beat me up or you're loud snoring." Natsu was being supportive and caring, but Lucy realized he lacked some basic knowledge of cheering people up like, you know, not making fun of them.

"I don't snore!" She warbled into his chest and he laughed. "Yes you do! Like a bear in hibernation. You know, last time I woke you up you did act like an animal wanting to rip my head off." She pushed away from him, wiping her eyes. "At least I don't sneak into someone else's bed like some kind of pervert."

"I told you, my bed isn't as comfy as yours." He pouted making Lucy laugh for the first time that night.

"Yeah, just like how my food is better, my house is cleaner, the soap is soapier..."

"And the books are dirtier." He stuck out his tongue and Lucy flared red. She grabbed the nearest item she could find and chucked it at him. "Argh you are such a moron! Get out for real this time or else I will kick you out!"

Natsu dodged the array of items Lucy chucked at him until he realized something. "Have you seen Happy?"

Lucy quit throwing things and looked around. The both looked around until Lucy spotted a bump of fur squashed by the wall where Lucy had sent Natsu flying. Apparently he was behind Natsu when he crashed into the wall. "Happy?!"

Lucy followed Natsu who ran over to the blue mess and pick up a passed out Happy. "You okay? Wake up Happy."

"Sa…kana…" Happy mumbled and Natsu grinned. "Look what the nasty bear did to you." He plopped Happy into Lucy's arms and walked in the direction of her open window. "Watch over him. I'll be back soon." He cracked his knuckles and jumped out before Lucy could say anything. She hugged Happy to her chest and smiled. A part of her felt very satisfied that Francis was going to be sorrier than he ever had before, but mostly she was just thankful to have Natsu as a friend. She didn't know what she would do without him. Why couldn't she find someone like Natsu to date?

' _You could date Natsu_.' The little voice in her head in her head went unnoticed.

* * *

The next morning Lucy was sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and peacefully reading the news. Last night Natsu had woken her up when he slipped into bed and wrapped his arms protectively around her. Her heart skipped a couple beats and she wondered what possessed him to hug her like that. After his breathing slowed and she figured he was asleep, she whispered softly, " _Thank you_."

In response, she felt his arms tighten around her, " _Don't be ashamed to cry, especially not in front of me. You don't have to be strong all of the time_."

Lucy's thoughts were far away from the break up and betrayal, instead she only thought of Natsu. Last night almost felt like a dream, but she could still feel the warmth of his hand resting on her stomach as they fell asleep. It definitely happened. It had been sometime since she fell asleep in someone's arms, but this time was so different from anything she had ever experienced. Had it been anyone else, that position would have been romantic. Lucy mused about the kind of magic he used to make something that should be intimate feel so normal—no it wasn't magic, he was just a clueless idiot. A clueless idiot she begrudgingly missed that morning when she rolled over onto the cold and empty side of the bed.

The stark contrast of the warm memory and the cold nothing she woke up to made the weight of loneliness press on her chest. Single again. No one to love. No one to love her. The usual mantra plagued her mind until Natsu's words and actions last night sparked a warm glow in her stomach. If not in the conventional sense of the word, she always had a certain someone who loved her.

Lucy flipped to the next page and skimmed titles of the minor stories after she finished reading the headline news. She nearly spit out her last sip of coffee when she read one of the story titles, " _INFAMOUS PLAYBOY FRANCIS DOTEA BRUTALLY MUTILATED._ " Her eyes eagerly flew to the paragraph beneath.

" _Walking home late last night, Dotea claims to have been assaulted by a fiery demon. 'I was casually walking down the street with a lovely young woman, and suddenly this demon shows up and threatens her to leave. He snapped his blood thirsty eyes my way, and started talking about all the ways he was going to hurt me and how I deserved to suffer more than anyone else in the world. I tried to reason with him, but he was a complete maniac…' Dotea suffered many injuries, one in particular, spelling out the word 'ugly' across his forehead. His face forever will bear many scars, and while the playboy says he will make a complete recovery, currently he is reported to be unrecognizable._ "

"Oh, Natsu."


	5. Sock Sensitivity

**Sock Sensitivity**

* * *

 _Summary: Natsu muses about Lucy's peculiar habits.  
_

* * *

Lucy amazed him. She was overly sensitive about the smallest of issues and treated the big ones like they were nothing.

One time she went as far as hiding two cracked ribs when she returned from a beating of a solo mission. She managed to fool him for a week, until he lifted her tiny frame into a warm hug like he did every so often and she couldn't keep the yelp from slipping past her lips. She continued to deny anything was wrong until he forcefully lifted her shirt and saw her torso covered in dark, purple bruises.

On the more entertaining side of the spectrum, if he just so happened to sneak a glance at her novel she would act like the world was falling apart and he was disrespecting her, her entire family, and her ancestors. To this day Natsu continues to tell the story of how she throttled him until he was bleeding out on her floor, completely immobilized and on death's door step. He doesn't like to admit defeat, but the look on Lucy's face is always priceless when the guild stares at her in fear like they might stare at Erza. Her cheeks would flush out of embarrassment, and Natsu thought she almost looked guilty. From her look it seemed like she could have felt some remorse for her actions, maybe somewhat apologetic, but Natsu knew he was probably just being hopeful. She and everyone else in the guild were happy to celebrate "beat up on Natsu day" every day. He didn't mind though, Natsu like the attention.

Not only that, but she would freak out if he made some offhanded comment about her socks being a weird color and run to the closet to change them. Comments about her clothes never seemed to bother her, only the socks, which bugged the absolute hell out of him. He couldn't even begin to comprehend what goes through her mind to be self-conscious about socks. Sometimes he would say her socks were mismatched just to be evil.

Worst of all was her cooking. Sensitive doesn't even begin to describe the ticking time bomb she became when it came to her dinner. Whether or not he's adamant or nonchalant, times his comment perfectly, or give her his 'serious' look, it was impossible trying to convince her that she was a good cook. Not once had she believed him. If he was lucky, her go-to response would consist of making excuses as to why her dish didn't turn out as hoped. Unfortunately he usually started arguments, physical fights, tantrums, tears, or mild bouts of depression with his words that were laced with "empty lies, sarcasm, and pity" or that had too long or short of a response time to be "sincere." The truth was that she was an extremely good cook. Maybe someday she would believe him.

He felt so lucky he could be with someone that could look so beautiful whether it be right after a battle or first thing in the morning before she even had a cup of coffee in hand. He was amazed at how she fit so perfectly into his arms, and how his heart would sometimes still skip a beat when she would stand on her tip toes to give him a quick kiss. Plenty of her cute, sexy gestures, would get his mind wandering, his blood pumping, and a burning desire to throw her on to the nearest surface. Everything seemed too perfect for him to even believe.

So did he mind that she handcuffed him to a table in the guild so that she could "fix" the apartment he "destroyed" last night? No. He smiled when he couldn't break out of the handcuffs. They must have had the same magical properties as that "demonic" net, as Lucy liked to call it. He started thinking, now that was an even better story. The story of their first kiss. To say she flipped out would be like saying Gray was an upstanding member of the guild. Natsu might have expected such volatility from burning down her apartment, but not from a peck on the lips. In the years that they had been together, he had never seen her spaz out like that. He laughed remembering the day they fell into that trap and got hauled up into the trees.

* * *

 **A/n: What exactly happened in that "demonic" net? Find out next chapter!**


	6. The Demonic Net

**The Demonic Net**

* * *

 _Summary: Lucy and Natsu fall into a trap and get stuck together in a net hanging from the trees._

* * *

The scene was beautiful, the journey home had gone smoothly so far, and flowers bloomed all along the path they traveled. Lucy felt on edge. Nothing _ever_ went so perfectly. The path intersected a crystal clear river and took a sharp turn to the right.

"I'm gonna go catch some fish!" Happy flew from Natsu's head and darted towards the water.

"A break sounds good." Natsu looked around the forest area they were traveling through. It was dense, cold, had no animals and no food—in other words, boring. He leaned against a boulder at the side of the path and watched Lucy as she apprehensively walked up beside him. "You're really quite all the sudden, what's wrong?"

She looked right at him, but didn't make any sign that she had heard him. "Are you sick or something? I've never seen you this quiet. Luuuuccy~ Luuuc-"

"Would you shut it already?" Lucy suddenly flung her backpack at his face.

He caught her bag before it got the chance to break his nose. "Has anyone ever told you that you're really violent?"

"Like you're one to talk." Lucy was too busy glaring at him to avoid tripping over a branch in the middle of the road. Natsu jumped to her side and caught her.

"Seriously, are you sure you're alright? You don't seem to be acting like yourself."

"I'm just tired. It was a long trip." Lucy stepped over the branch, and her foot stepped on something that felt and sounded like a switch. "Did you hear-" She squealed and Natsu covered his ears. They two were snapped up by a large magical net. Lucy twisted around in the net so she could detangle herself from Natsu, but with both of them in the small net it was practically impossible to separate herself. The net violently swung back and forth as it hung from the trees. Lucy ended up sitting on Natsu.

"What the hell?" Natsu struggled to rip it open, burn it, but the rope was resistant.

"Well this is wonderful." Lucy stared at him.

"Don't look at me like that, this isn't my fault."

"Sorry. You're right." Lucy sighed. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I dunno," Natsu tried to destroy the rope again, "wait for Happy to come back and untie us?"

"Happy!" Lucy shouted, and Natsu groaned loudly.

"Do you have to do that right in my ear?"

Lucy ignored him and called again. Happy was nowhere to be seen.

"What's up with you today?" Natsu said holding his hands over his ears.

"Please stop asking." Lucy looked down at him in irritation.

Natsu thought for a moment. "Is it something I did? If it is, you should tell me."

"You kissed me last night," she said tightly.

Natsu's mouth opened slightly as if he was going to say something and he put his pointer finger up in the air while he processed what she said. "Huh?"

"Remember. The floor," she continued, "last night."

Natsu thought again, "Huh?"

"Dammit. I knew you would do this." Lucy rested her face on her hand and looked out beyond the confines of their little prison.

Natsu was about to finally say something when she shushed him. "Forget about it." Natsu tried again, but she poked him in the stomach angrily, "You don't want to get into a fight with me in here."

Ten minutes passed in silence. He didn't like silence. "Oh you're talking about when you tackled me for accidentally ripping your shirt?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and continued avoiding eye contact. The shirt ripping event was a problem all in itself.

"You fell on top of me. It's not like I knew you would fall on me like that."

"Well you didn't seem to care anyway, just drop it," she huffed.

"I don't really know why I should. It wasn't a big deal or anything?" Natsu said questioningly.

"Right. No deal at all." Lucy felt the urge to cry realizing that he didn't react last night because he didn't care.

"But it is to you." Natsu wasn't stupid enough to miss that.

Lucy didn't respond. Natsu grabbed her hand and pulled her down so her face was right in front of his.

"Talk to me," he demanded.

"I just hoped it might have meant something to you, but it obviously didn't," she said quietly.

"Well it wasn't really a kiss. If I kissed you it would have been more like this," Natsu pressed his lips firmly to hers. Lucy's heart stopped.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lucy punched him in the head and started flailing around in the net. "HAPPY! GET YOUR FURRY ASS OVER HERE!"

"Lucy calm down!" Natsu tried to grab her arms so she would stop pushing into the net causing them to bounce around.

"NO!" Lucy squealed and tried to push Natsu away with her legs. "I can't believe you just kissed me! HAPPY!"

"I thought that was what you wanted!" Natsu tried to defend himself and restrain her arms as she tried to hit him again.

"Why on earth would I want that?!"

"Because you seemed sad that it didn't mean anything to me, so I wanted to see if it did."

Lucy stopped flailing and stared at him in anticipation. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Did it, you know," Lucy looked away shyly, "mean something?"

"I didn't have enough time to find out since you punched me in the head," Natsu grinned playfully, "How about I try again?"

Lucy felt like her heart would fly out of her chest. "No way in hell! Keep your hands and whole body way over there!" Lucy pushed them as far apart as she could with her legs and he lost grip on her arms. Natsu put a hand under her ankles and pushed her legs up so her feet slid off his chest. When the force keeping them apart disappeared the net became slack and pushed the two together so her butt smacked against his chest. "Natsu! Stop!" Lucy rolled off of him and her face smashed into the bottom of the net while Natsu was pushed on top of her.

"Wow this is a lot more comfortable than before, way to go Lucy!" Natsu put his arms behind his head and leaned against the net.

"Someone please kill me," Lucy silently cried into the net. She couldn't think of a single event more embarrassing than where she currently found herself. She shouldn't have said anything.

"What was that?" Natsu heard her mumble something but couldn't make out what it was.

"I said you're an idiot! I knew you would try to make me feel bad about this!" Lucy moved back and forth trying to push Natsu off of her.

"I'm wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I just wanted to kiss you. You didn't have to make it so weird."

Lucy froze. ' _He wanted to kiss me? Fuck, what do I do? How do I respond? Lucy calm down!_ ' "Umm…" she said intelligently.

The two sat in silence. Neither of them moved. Natsu heard Lucy's heart still pounding and felt bad for making her so anxious.

"Hey let's just forget about it," he said finally and rolled off of her so she could sit up again.

Lucy didn't say anything. She just stared at Natsu nervously as they sat facing each other. He _wanted_ to kiss her.

Natsu watched her carefully as she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. She pulled back quickly and looked at her hands anxiously. "I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe…" It was Natsu, she wasn't supposed to be kissing _Natsu_.

"Hey," Natsu rested a hand on hers, "you don't need to be so worried," he spoke softly in an attempt to control his own fluster of nervousness.

When Natsu saw Lucy staring back at him so uncertainly, he knew he had to take charge. She was what he wanted. She had been for so long. Of course having her accidentally kiss him last night meant something to him. It meant everything. He smiled and ran his fingers across her face gently, through her hair, and stopped his hand right above her ear. That was when she saw a familiar look in his eyes, a look that she had seen over and over again across countless missions. The look she had fallen in love with. The look meant he loved her too. Her nervousness washed away. He was what she wanted. So when he pulled her back to him and crashed his lips to hers, she melted. He was finally hers.


	7. The Benefits of Writer's Block

**The Benefits of Writer's Block**

* * *

 _Summary: Writer's block sucks. Or it did until Lucy's wandering eyes found something much more enjoyable to watch than her blank piece of paper — Natsu working out._

* * *

Writer's block sucks. Lucy twirled a pen around with one hand and stared at the blank page before her. She had spent a couple days trying to write, but each time she sat down at her desk nothing would come to her. Lucy kicked her feet up on the desk and balanced on the back legs of her chair just about ready to give up on the day.

"98…99…300…" Natsu huffed quietly from across the room.

Lucy casually glanced over at the dragon slayer doing push-ups on her floor. It didn't even look like he was sweating. The fact that he could do so many was inconceivable, especially since she could only do about twenty herself. Despite how strong he was, he didn't look bulky though. Lucy stared at his arm and chest muscles bulging from the stress of the workout, he probably felt as hard as rock. She really wanted to see for herself. What would he say if she asked if she could touch him? She shook her head vigorously. She shouldn't be thinking about her partner like that. It was weird. At least that's what she told herself, but she couldn't pull her eyes away. He worked out in her room all the time, despite her protests, so it shouldn't have been a big deal.

"98…99…400…"

Lucy looked away quickly. Had she been staring at him that long? How could she not watch though? Her eyes drifted back. What she wouldn't give to hear him whisper her name with that deep, breathless voice he was counting with. Who cares if it was weird, she wanted to hear her name and run her hands across his body. Lucy almost screamed when her chair tipped backwards and almost sent her crashing to the floor. She sat up quickly and looked back at her blank notebook. She _really_ needed to stop. Why was it so difficult to focus?

"98…99…500…"

' _Dammit, not again,_ ' Lucy gripped her pen tightly, disappointed in her lack of control. Her eyes would not leave the page again.

Natsu stood up and positioned himself on a nearby table so he could hang off of it and start doing crunches.

The page in front of her was very white. Very empty. She would do something about it. Right. Now. The pen was on her paper, ready to start moving. Up and down. Again and again. She couldn't take her eyes away. Every muscle of his body was perfectly sculpted. She was dying to know how it would feel to press her body up against his.

"Hey, Luce. How's that writing going?" Natsu's casual voice snapped her back to reality. She looked at her paper nervously. "Oh, umm…" Lucy saw she had unconsciously written his name down on her paper. She flipped to a new page so fast, she almost ripped the page right out of her notebook. "It's great! Getting a lot done. Life as a writer you know. Writing things."

' _What the hell am I saying?!_ '

Natsu continued his exercise routine without pause, "Cool, we should get something to eat soon then!"

Lucy felt more relief than she could ever attempt to describe in words. He hadn't caught her staring, and he didn't give her a hard time about spouting off nonsense. "Yup, sounds good. I'll be finished in about ten minutes if you're done by then."

Natsu carried on as if nothing happened, and Lucy tried to get control of her panic-induced tachycardia. She quietly scratched out his name from her notebook and sat in her chair afraid to look again, but compelled to do so anyway. It amazed her how he had done this in her room countless times before, but that she was always too focused on writing to notice him. Maybe writer's block wasn't too bad.

* * *

A/n: Sorry I have been away for so long! Now that I'm able to get back on here though I just have to say it's incredible I have so many followers! Thank you :) I have a couple more chapters written and will be posting again soon!


	8. In The Mirror

**In The Mirror**

* * *

 _Summary: Sneaking into Lucy's apartment was nothing new, but catching her singing and dancing around naked certainly was._

* * *

Lucy stepped out of her shower determined to make today about herself and not about the feeling of loneliness that comes with getting left behind. Waking up to find that an all too enthusiastic-to-get-this-mission-started Natsu and Happy had left her in the dust was nothing new, but she could still never get used to it. The first day she was ecstatic to have the fire demon hell-bent on destroying her sanity—and her curtains—out of her personal space, but as the days passed she found herself only missing him and his antagonizing blue fur ball. Lucy pushed those feelings to the back of her mind though and focused on the feeling of liberation that she could do whatever she wanted with no judgement or harassment. So if she felt like dancing to complete her morning routine, she sure as hell would do it. She slipped on her bath robe and jumped excitedly from the bathroom into her bed room.

"~OH YEAH!~ The sun and moon have joined in celebration." She danced around in her room spinning the ties of her robe around in a circle and gathering the clothes she would wear for the day. "~Have you forgotten our affiliation?" She slipped her robe off and made some sexy poses in the long mirror in her room before putting her clothes on. "~When you're not here to share your laughter with me, I just can't find my inspiration, but now it's~" She twirled in a pleated black skirt towards the bathroom and grabbed a hair brush, "~Snowing, keep going; be honest and smile as we're, approaching, evoking," She pulled it gently through her hair and braided it off to the side. "The clock to keep repeating over, but, Fairy, where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!" She stared at herself in the mirror as she finished the song and smiled. Today was going to be a good day.

She started a new song as she applied makeup and in the middle of putting eye liner on she saw a blur of pink appear in the mirror. She didn't take time to consider what she saw though since she needed to focus on making her eyes even. "I didn't know you could sing." Startled, Lucy dropped her pencil and spun around to face her pyromaniac. "You're back!" Completely forgetting that today was her me-time day, she jumped at him and he caught her expectantly. Having him hold her again made her forget all of the negative feelings she had over the last week.

"Yup, and I got you something." Natsu set her down outside the bathroom and turned her towards the window.

Lucy stared for a moment, not sure what she should be looking at, and then she saw it. "You replaced my curtains! How did you do it without me noticing?"

"You were," Natsu smiled evilly, "very into your performance." Lucy blushed and crossed her arms over her chest. He saw the _whole_ thing?

"Well at least I didn't put the curtains up backwards. Talk about embarrassing," Lucy grinned. So what if he caught her doing one of the most humiliating things she could think of, she was just happy to have him back.

Natsu darted his eyes to the curtains that were _not_ backwards. "Is this the thanks I get for buying you a gift? Maybe I'll burn these too." The familiar glow of his playful fire emanated from his fist and Lucy jumped to pull his arm back.

"No! I'm sorry! They're wonderful, thank you Natsu." Lucy pulled his flaming fist away from the direction of the curtains.

"That's what I thought." Natsu smirked and dissipated his fire.

"Well I got you something else too." He gestured over to the kitchen table where a simple blue package sat waiting to be opened.

"Really?" Lucy stared wide eyed at the package then glared at Natsu. "Did you break something?"

"No."

"Burn my book shelf?" She looked over to check for herself.

"No."

"Steal something of mine?" Lucy asked now more confused than angry. Obviously he had done something bad.

"Do I have to have a reason to buy you something?" Natsu said in half amused and half exasperated tone.

"Well," she stared at him seriously, "considering this is you, yes."

"Just open it already," he picked up the box and put it in her hand.

Lucy inspected it carefully as if it would explode at any moment. "This better not be a prank or something." She unwrapped the blue paper and opened the box to find another small box inside. She opened it and inside sat a pair of gold fairy earrings. "Wow, Natsu these are beautiful!" She hugged him excitedly.

"I got a lot of reward money on our job, and thought you might be mad since you didn't get a chance to go."

 _'You mean because you left me behind_ ,' Lucy only mentally corrected him since she wasn't really upset with him anymore. "But these look expensive."

"I had some extra money, besides we are still a team even if we don't do every job together. It's only fair that you get something." Natsu scratched his head and looked out the window. "Also I felt bad for burning your curtains."

As Lucy removed her heart earrings to put on her new ones she laughed, "Well you should feel bad, the sun woke me up early every single morning." Lucy looked at herself in the mirror and smiled at the fairies reflecting the light of her room. "But I'm definitely not mad about that anymore."

Natsu came up behind her and stared at her reflection in the mirror. ' _Situation neutralized_ ,' he grinned. Maybe he would run off on missions without her more often if it meant he could come home to her singing and dancing around naked.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucy cocked her head to the side and stared back at him through the mirror.

"I'm just happy to be home." Natsu walked off towards the kitchen knowing all too well he would get slapped if she figured out what he was actually thinking. "Have you eaten yet? I'm starving!"

Lucy's heart fluttered when he called her place his home. "Hey, this is my place, not yours! And you can't just go and eat all of my food." Lucy grabbed his shirt forcefully and pulled him back so she could pass him up in heading to the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu laughed.

* * *

A/n: Hope you enjoyed :) Please leave a review if you did, I would really appreciate your feedback! Also an update is coming soon, but since you all have been so supportive I thought I'd let you know what the next chapter is about until then.

 _Chapter 9 Summary: They would do whatever it took to destroy each other. To take each other's pride. To make it hurt. To make the other experience the humiliation of falling for the nose flick._

**Song lyrics are not mine. Credit: Funkist & Pony Canyon.**


	9. The Flick War

**The Flick War | Part 1**

* * *

 _Summary: They would do whatever it took to destroy each other. To take each other's pride. To make it hurt. To make the other experience the humiliation of falling for the nose flick._

* * *

"Hey," Lucy said as she walked up to Natsu and Happy staring at the request board. "Did you guys find anything good?"

"There isn't really anything new." Happy put a paw up to his mouth trying to debate which request would be the best. Natsu made an irritated noise. Lucy looked at Natsu's serious expression, he was obviously thinking really hard too.

Lucy's gaze fell upon the board and was disappointed to see the same requests that had been there last week. Apparently no one else wanted to do them either. None of them were difficult, they were just chores with minimal pay. She didn't want to do a single one on the board. Lucy looked back to Natsu and tried not to grin when an idea came to her.

"Natsu you've got something on your scarf," Lucy pointed to at the center of the scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Huh?" Natsu looked down and swiped her finger in a fluid upward motion, tapping the tip of his nose with her finger.

"Got'cha!" Lucy smiled and Natsu glared at her evilly.

Lucy put her hands up defensively, "Whoa sorry, you weren't supposed to get so mad about it."

"Damn it, I can't believe I fell for that," Natsu complained at the ceiling. "Well you've got something on your shirt," he pointed to her chest.

"As if I'd fall for that right after doing it to you," Lucy laughed and put her hands on her hips.

"Whatever." Natsu huffed and looked back at the board. Though he stared in the direction of the board, he was only thinking of a way to get her back. A fool proof idea eventually came and he struggled to keep the grin off of his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lucy looking intently at the request board as if trying to finally decide which one would be the least annoying to complete in order to pay rent.

"Oh that reminds me, I was talking with the guys last night, and we were wondering how you managed to fight with such a huge chest." Natsu said casually without looking over at her.

"What do you mean by that!?" Lucy looked down at her chest, it didn't look big to her. When she had finished assessing herself she realized it all too late and a confident finger swooped right beneath her nose. Natsu flicked up across the tip of her nose and laughed, "Hahaha you're way too easy!"

Lucy put her hands on her head and silently walked around in a circle trying to make it okay. It wasn't. She _had_ fallen for it, almost immediately after doing it herself. It meant war.

* * *

Lucy waited a couple days to execute her revenge. She needed him to let his guard down in order to strike. Her patience was rewarded because the perfect opportunity came up while he was eating breakfast at the guild. "What's that?" Lucy said trying to sound as surprised as possible.

Natsu looked down only to realize mid-journey that nothing would be there but a finger.

"Fuck!"

* * *

Later that night Natsu sat on Lucy's couch eating her snacks with Happy. No matter how long he stared the door never seemed to open. Eventually Lucy emerged fully clothed in a t-shirt and long pants with hair twisted in a towel atop her head. "Sorry for taking so long." She threw her dirty clothes into a hamper and Natsu stood up to use the bathroom next.

"It's no big deal," he said and stopped right in front of her outside of the bathroom. He reached out and touched the collar of her shirt, admiring its high quality and design. Of course that was _not_ what he was doing, but he hoped he would be able to convince her of that, "Wow, this shirt is really pretty on you."

"Oh thanks! I just bought it yester-" Lucy looked down at her shirt and her train of thought was interrupted when Natsu flicked her nose.

"Easy," Natsu stuck his tongue out cheekily and then vanished behind the bathroom door.

Lucy pounded her fists on the door. "You can't just do that and walk away! You coward, get out here!"

"Look," Natsu said from behind the door, "it's not my fault you suck at this game."

"Why don't you come out that here and say that to my face!"

Lucy just heard Natsu laughing in response as the shower turned on.

* * *

A week later Natsu, Lucy, and Happy finally got a well-paying mission, and were now standing in the aftermath of a fight with thieves that went out of control. Numerous buildings had been destroyed, hundreds of civilians and enemies alike were passed out, and a sea of fire consumed the land around where they stood. Nothing out of the ordinary. What was unusual was the fact that Lucy didn't care about the obliteration of this poor unsuspecting city. She had tried for days to get him back again, but he never fell for it. That bastard learned too quickly. Her moment was now.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" Lucy ran up to him pulling something out of her bag, "There's blood all over you!" Natsu saw the medical gauze in her hand first then looked down to see if he was injured, he didn't remember getting injured. Lucy quickly snuck her finger beneath his nose and flicked up.

"That's so messed up!" Natsu groaned as he watched Lucy do a little victory dance.

* * *

The two were eating at the guild table the next day. Each a little on edge. Natsu from waiting for the moment to strike and Lucy waiting for the assault on her pride. They talked about the mission they had just completed and what they did with the reward money. It was nice and casual. Natsu plucked a grape from the vine he had been eating from and tossed it into her cleavage shown off by a highly revealing tank top.

"Score!"

"Ahh! That's cold." Lucy looked down to retrieve the foreign object he'd just thrown at her.

Natsu leaned across the table when she looked down to get it out of her shirt and quickly flicked her nose.

She just glared at him and threw the grape she retrieved with enough force to have it burst on his forehead upon impact.

* * *

A/n: How will the war end? Who do you think should win? Part 2 will be posted soon!


End file.
